Trevonic – No Red Lights, No Red Lights

Since 2005, the Polish label AudioTonghas been building a remarkable catalogue of “so-called experimental music and sound-art….Music outside of the “mainstream” (especially from outside of the mainstream in the underground)”.Note the last part of this quote!

For those that feel that there is too much “sameness” in ambient music recently, the recent AutioTong release by Trevonic, “No Red Light, No Red Light“ maybe a welcome change.

On “No Red Lights, No Red Lights” Trever Hagen (Trevonic) plays solo trumpet over electronic background sounds. The background is essentially ambient music: calm, but also glitchy and varying in style and mood.

What makes this album differ from many others is the way Hagen uses his trumpet with this background. It’s relatively loud in the overall mix which feels as if he’s improvising over the electronic background.

He’s nót playing the breathy Jon Hassell(/Nils Petter Molvaer/Arve Henriksen) style most often used in combintion with ‘ambient music’ and uses his instrument in straightforward jazz-style.

In fact, “No Red Lights, No Red Lights” could very well be called a “jazz” – album. (It sometimes reminded me of some of the ECM-albums by saxophone player John Surman).

Due to it’s jazzy nature, this is not “ambient music of the ‘ignorable’ kind”. It’s “electronic music of the jazzy kind”.

Trevonic manages to present an original approach in combining abstract electronics with playing the trumpet, a combination that is not heard very much in this music this way.
Very refreshing!